HammerFall
Built To Last

Certainly, they are not innovators, they don't offer varied music, nor do they have complex songs from a compositional standpoint, they don't have complicated songwriting, but strangely enough, it works. These are Hammerfall, a Swedish group that had their beginnings in 1997 with the release of their first album "Glory To The Brave," an album with fundamental historical importance, as it was the testimony of the revival of the Power genre, a genre that during the first half of the '90s was gradually lost, especially with pioneering groups like Helloween. From '97 until today, Hammerfall have not changed their sound one bit, basing their music on epic mid-tempos with easily assimilable choruses and Joacim Cans' voice to accompany them. In some cases, the voice has been the weak point of Hammerfall, excessively high-pitched and clear, where instead a more gritty tone was required. However, apart from this, the Hammerfall we see today have remained practically identical.

A point of change in their career was definitely "Infected," an album dating back to 2011 that saw the group playing with doom influences, and was a change more or less accepted by fans, but that didn't suit Hammerfall's typical style at all. After an overall good album like "(r)Evolution, the public and critics expected a sort of return to origins in the next album from the Swedish group. In 2016, "Built To Last" was finally released, an album that requires an important note before moving on to see the songs. This was the first album to be released under the label Napalm Records, thus breaking the almost twenty-year-long partnership with Nuclear Blast Records. This change was dictated by both the group's desire to change and the label's decision, seeing that the results of the latest albums weren't quite satisfying, to end the collaboration with Hammerfall. The result, which initially could have been considered risky, is one of the best ever produced by the group.

With a cover finally worthy of its name, the album opens with excellent tracks among which "Hammer High" stands out, which will prove to be an authentic bomb live, and "The Sacred Vow," where Joacim probably gives one of his best performances. The ballad "Twilight Princess" is an excellent slow piece, but characterized by a slightly excessive duration. The title track manages to reveal itself as the best song of the album, although in some parts it winks at "The Way Of The Warrior," present in the band's third album, "Renegade." Powerful and absolutely enjoyable are "Stormbreaker," "The Star Of Home," and the opener "Bring It." The production is one of the best, but in general, Hammerfall have never released albums with bad production, quite the opposite.

With commendable consistency, Hammerfall reclaim the sound that characterized them at their inception, managing to keep intact the power and energy that have always distinguished them. There are many who criticize bands of this genre for the reasons mentioned at the beginning of the review, but if what is criticized about this Swedish group is the fact that they never change, always repeating the same things, but done well, then I ask... Do you have this kind of consistency?